MOBILITY | E-Bikes and Equity
How cities can use rebate programs to bring downtowns within reach.
Written By Adeleine Geitner
Within the span of a week, author and environmentalist Bill McKibben listed “hopping on the e-bike bandwagon” among his five recommendations for combating climate change, and Business Insider proclaimed that the “Incredible, Earth-saving electric bike is having a moment.” As e-bike rebates make their way back to Congress after failing to survive the last round of negotiations for the Build Back Better Act, some question the utility of subsidizing e-bikes when cycling infrastructure in most of the United States is subpar. Which, you might then ask, should come first: bike lanes or access to e-bikes? The answer need not be nuanced; cities need both—now.
For starters, a federal e-bike rebate program is needed to provide a sensible alternative to the existing federal electric vehicle (EV) rebate program. According to Denver’s Chief Climate Officer, one study found that the home with the smallest carbon footprint is not the one that replaces its gas car with an electric one; it’s the one that keeps its current car for the small percentage of trips that exceed six miles and opts for an e-bike as its primary vehicle. Consumers looking to reduce their footprint (and reduce the time and money spent sitting in traffic) should be offered a side-by-side comparison of their options: a post-rebate $1,300 for the average e-bike, or an EV that wavers between $45,000 and $55,000 after the federal rebate, if it qualifies.
The more people already on bikes, the better bike infrastructure projects will fare in the dreaded “public opinion” stage of execution.
Additionally, e-bike rebates at the federal or local level (like this program created in Raleigh in June) can help increase demand and advocacy for bike lanes. Infrastructure projects that include such lanes often carry a heavy price tag (although the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law offers funding for undertakings of this sort) and intentionally narrow streets. The average driver does not regard these changes with fondness. It follows that the more people already on bikes, the better bike infrastructure projects will fare in the dreaded “public opinion” stage of execution.
Chris Carini recently opened an e-bike store with locations in Carrboro and Raleigh, North Carolina, with his dad and brother. He points out that rebates can have a real impact on an individual’s cost of living, an outcome buried a bit deeper in infrastructure projects. He believes e-bike rebates, whether locally or federally provided, would mean a lot for people who can’t afford to live closer to downtown with a car. “For 4,000 people who really need those bikes, this is true upward mobility,” Carini says. Under most e-bike rebate models, folks with lower incomes or who are essential workers qualify for higher rebates, allowing people who do not or cannot own a car the opportunity to take jobs that would otherwise be inaccessible.
During Durham’s four-week e-bike pilot program, participants said having an e-bike made it easier to work downtown and live comfortably within a close radius. “I don’t have to worry about getting up at a certain time, or coming out with my brother,” Durham resident Damien said. “I can leave when I want, come back when I want. It’s just me and the bike.”
Southerners are no stranger to chicken-or-egg questions. Both options are sure to show up to any brunch potluck between two halves of a biscuit, and the choice can be tricky. All things considered, though, the best choice is clearly both. There is a lesson here in that while urbanists seem to understand that more, safer bike lanes will lead to more riders feeling comfortable (i.e., more bike demand), the opposite is also true. More people armed with e-bikes (and scooters and other mobility options, for that matter) taking over the streets will start to force the hands of municipalities as well as give politicians the ability to point to pre-existing demand.
Adeleine Geitner is the Spring 2023 Duke Initiative for Urban Studies Fellow on Sprawl Repair and Nodal Development.